WTN: Savennières: Clos du Papillon

Domaine de Baumard Savennières Blanc Sec Clos du Papillon 2005
Pale lemony colour.
Smells of butter, underripe honeydew melon, perhaps some hay, beeswax, and even some toast, nuts, lovely rich ripe nose that's still not too fruit forward.
Canned pineapple, caramel cream, rhubarb and butter on the palate. It's full and rich in the mouth without being weighty, the acidity is perfectly balanced.
For Savennières, this is quite rich/ripe, but still very enjoyable.

You had me except for the canned pineapple and caramel cream. Not my favorite elements of Savennieres/wine in general.

But, sounds like fun. Will be interesting to see where these 05s go.

You had me except for the canned pineapple and caramel cream. Not my favorite elements of Savennieres/wine in general.

What I call "caramel cream" was a minor component that I suspect I might see differently on a different day (and others might not smell it that way). The pineapple was not so border-line, though; I think it's a consequence of the vintage (riper fruit).

Oh I know these terms are subjective. But what caught my eye was the 'canned' and the 'caramel' elements, which speak of a combination of heavy ripeness and oxidation (the dreaded Savennieres curse!), which are not my favorite elements. Will be interesting to see how this progresses over time (not that I own or will be buying any).

I think I drank this one, although it was labelled slightly differently, and I got the same mix of ripe and heavy fruit. Wasn't too oxidized, though.

Bit young to drink this sort of wine - they usually snap into focus in the 7-10 year range. was this going to improve?

I think I drank this one, although it was labelled slightly differently, and I got the same mix of ripe and heavy fruit. Wasn't too oxidized, though.

That's how I found it (and not too oxidised either).

Bit young to drink this sort of wine - they usually snap into focus in the 7-10 year range. was this going to improve?

I suppose it depends on what you look for in Savennières, but I'd say perhaps some "improvement" may be likely.

Here's my note on that wine

6/10/2010: Rich, honeyed, yeasty, broad, smooth with a touch of lemony acid. Soft, easy to drink, and somewhat lush. Long, pretty finish. This is one of the best Savennieres I've had, lush and easy drinking but also complex and full bodied. On top of all that I find this elegant. I don't have experience to know how this will age, but I suspect it will develop well for a long time.
B++

oxidation (the dreaded Savennieres curse!),.

I think I ran about a 50% PremOx rate on the 2002, finished early to take less chances (the oxidation was evident, but not to point of undrinkable at that point).